System, Method and Program to Estimate Cost of a Product And/Or Service

1. A computer program product recorded on a computer readable medium for estimating a cost of a product and/or service, said product and/or service comprising a multiplicity of components, said computer program product comprising: first program instructions to identify one or more first components with no cost dependencies; second program instructions to determine one or more second components whose costs depend on the cost of said one or more first components; third program instructions to determine one or more third components whose costs depend on said one or more second components; fourth program instructions to determine one or more fourth components whose costs depend on said one or more third components; for each of said second, third and fourth components, fifth program instructions to determine an initial weight based on and greater than a weight of the respective first, second or third component from which the cost of said second, third and fourth component depends; for each of said third components which is one of said second components, sixth program instructions to increase the weight of said each third component based on the weight of the second component from which the cost of said each third component depends; for each of said fourth components which is one of said third components, seventh program instructions to increase the weight of said each fourth component based on the weight of the third component from which the cost of said each fourth component depends; eighth program instructions for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service, wherein the eighth program instructions for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service comprises instructions for generating a first graphical representation which includes the identified components and the cost dependency information of each of the components on other components of the same product and/or service; and wherein said first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh instructions comprise instructions for converting the first graphical presentation to a second graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service.

2. A computer program product as set forth in claim 1 further comprising: ninth program instructions to determine a cost of each of said first, second, third and fourth components in ascending order of their weights.

3. A computer program product recorded on a computer readable medium for estimating a cost of a product and/or service, said product and/or service comprising a multiplicity of components, said computer program product comprising: first program instructions to identify one or more first components with no cost dependencies, and assign said one or more first components to an nth priority in order of cost calculation, where “n” is an integer; second program instructions to determine one or more second components whose costs depend on the costs of said one or more first components, and assign said one or more second components to an n+1 priority in order of cost calculation; third program instructions to determine one or more third components whose costs depend on said one or more second components, and assign said one or more third components to an n+2 priority in order of cost calculation; fourth program instructions to determine if any of said one or more third components were previously assigned to said n+1 priority, and responsive to determining that any of said one or more third components were previously assigned to said n+1 priority, to remove said any of said one or more third components from said n+1 priority assignment; fifth program instructions for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service, wherein the fifth program instructions for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service comprises instructions for generating a first graphical representation which includes the identified components and the cost dependency information of each of the components on other components of the same product and/or service; and wherein said first, second, third and fourth instructions comprise instructions for converting the first graphical representation to a second graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service.

4. A computer program product as set forth in claim 3 further comprising: sixth program instructions to determine an order to calculate costs of said components Based on the cost calculation priority to which they are assigned, wherein a lower priority is earlier in said order than a higher priority.

5. An estimating system, in a data processing system, for estimating a cost of a product and/or service, said product and/or service comprising a multiplicity of components, said estimating system comprising: means for identifying one or more first components with no cost dependencies, and assigning said one or more first components to an nth priority in order of cost calculation, where “n” is an integer; means for determining one or more second components whose costs depend on the costs of said one or more first components, and assigning said one or more second components to an n+1 priority in order of cost calculation; means for determining one or more third components whose costs depend on said one or more second component and assigning said one or more third components to an n+2 priority in order of cost calculation; means for determining if any of said one or more third components were previously assigned to said n+1 priority, and responsive to determining that any of said one or more third components were previously assigned to said n+1 priority, for removing said any of said one or more third components from said n+1 priority assignment; means for determining an order to calculate costs of said components based on the cost calculation priority to which they are assigned, wherein a lower priority is earlier in said order than a higher priority; and means for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service, wherein the means for generating a graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service comprises means for generating a first graphical representation which includes the identified components and the cost dependency information of each of the components on other components of the same product and/or service; and wherein said identifying means and each of said determining means comprises means for converting the first graphical representation to a second graphical representation for use in estimating the cost of the product and/or service.

6. A computer program product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said first graphical representation comprises a directed acyclic graph, and wherein said second graphical representation comprises a weighted undirected graph.

7. A computer program product as set forth in claim 3 , wherein said first graphical representation comprises a directed acyclic graph, and wherein said second graphical representation comprises a weighted undirected graph.

8. An estimating system as set forth in claim 5 , wherein said first graphical representation comprises a directed acyclic graph, and wherein said second graphical representation comprises a weighted undirected graph.